52 Famous Nurse Quotes: How to Make A Difference

Feel the power of nursing through these inspirational quotes about being a nurse. Proud to be a nurse because becoming a nurse is one of the most selfless acts a person can undertake.

In a society of so many different races, cultures, customs, and beliefs, nurses are a universal gift to all, and the dedicated work that they do and kindness they deliver on a daily basis should serve as a reminder of the fundamental humanity inside us all. They make a difference and we should show our appreciation.

Nursing, as Florence Nightingale would tell you, is a noble profession. It’s all about caring, self-sacrifice, and a whole lot of patience.

If you wonder “What’s it really like to be a nurse?” or “How do you handle the day to day stress of it all?”, here A Nurse I Am was produced by Emmy Award-winning director David Hoffman for nurses and nursing students as a response to the alarming trend of nurses leaving the profession within their first few years in practice.

Primarily geared towards students (but enjoyable for anyone!), it features four nursing role models – nurses who are competent and compassionate and have a deep commitment to their patients and to their profession.

15 Famous Florence Nightingale Quotes For Nurses

Selfless and God-fearing, Ms. Nightingale left a life of luxury to care for the sick and dying during the Crimean War. Soon, she wrote the book Notes On Nursing and became the founder of modern nursing.

Let this list of the best, the greatest and most inspiring Florence Nightingale quotes make your everyday shift something to remember.

The world is put back by the death of everyone who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality.

No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this – ‘devoted and obedient’. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.

The amount of relief and comfort experienced by the sick after the skin has been carefully washed and dried is one of the commonest observations made in a sick bed.

The only English patients I have ever known refuse tea, have been typhus cases; and the first sign of their getting better was their craving again for tea.

Women should have the true nurse-calling, the good of the sick first the second only the consideration of what is their ‘place’ to do – and that women who want for a housemaid to do this or the charwomen to do that, when the patient is suffering, have not the making of a nurse in them.

She said the object and color in the materials around us actually have a physical effect on us, on how we feel.

The martyr sacrifices them entirely in vain. Or rather not in vain; for they make the selfish more selfish, the lazy more lazy, the narrow narrower.

I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women… no woman has excited passions among women more than I have.

There is no part of my life, upon which I can look back without pain.

The craving for ‘the return of the day’, which the sick so constantly evince, is generally nothing but the desire for light.

Rather, ten times, die in the surf, heralding the way to a new world, than stand idly on the shore.

-Instead of wishing to see more doctors made by women joining what there are, I wish to see as few doctors, either male or female, as possible. For, mark you, the women have made no improvement they have only tried to be ”men” and they have only succeeded in being third-rate men.

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear?

I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God’s spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.

8 Inspirational Proud To Be A Nurse Quotes

These quotes have all been gathered from nurses, rather than famous quotes from historical figures, in an effort to provide a personal touch, and to truly capture the sentiment and pride carried by the nurses who care for us when we need them most.

“I know I will be a good nurse, but I want to be more than that. I want to be a nurse who makes a change in my community; one that improves the lives of my patients through quality, compassionate, culturally centered patient care. That is what being a nurse means to me.” –Jaime Contreras, Riverside Community College

“I am a Nurse. I didn’t become a nurse because I couldn’t cut it in med school, or failed organic chemistry, but rather because I chose this. I work to maintain my patient’s dignity through intimate moments, difficult long-term decisions, and heartbreaking situations. I share in the joy of newly born babies and miraculously cured diseases. I share in the heartbreak of a child taken too soon, a disease too powerful, a life changed forever. My patient is often an entire family. I assess and advocate. Sometimes I wipe bottoms, often I give meds, but that isn’t the extent of what I do. There are people above me and people below. I work closely with both, without them, I could not do what I do well. I chose this profession and love almost every minute of it. I know I am not alone and I appreciate all of the nurses who work alongside me. Many of them have shaped me into the nurse I am. Someday I will shape others into the nurse they will be. This wasn’t my plan B, it was my plan A, and I would gladly choose it again.”
– Kateri Allard, RN, BSN

“As a nurse, I will have many responsibilities, but I need to take the time to build relationships with patients, communicate effectively, and learn how I can best treat the person based on their personal needs and values. Nursing requires compassion, critical thinking, and communication. These qualities strengthen the trust people place in nurses, and make all proud to say, ‘A nurse I am.’”–Allison Williams, Cedarville University

“As nurses we know suffering. We are fully aware of how precious each moment of life is. We learn to live well.
Nurses are grateful people. Some people only learn about these essential spiritual qualities from traditions of worship. We learn compassion, love, peace and more by performing our daily work.
Nurses are constantly reminded of the necessity of valuing the dignity and worth of every person. As a result, we become better people. Our souls are healed. We develop communication skills and open hearts which make us more loving members of our own families. We become tolerant and appreciate the diversity of all of the people on this earth. Perhaps that is the biggest benefit of being nurses. We become more caring, and honorable people.”
– Patricia Bratianu, Ph.D., RN, RH-AHG

“Caring for others is demanding intellectually, physically and emotionally, and health is a continuum over the lifetime. It triples out into communities and measures quality of life. As a nurse, I will help individuals and families confront the most dynamic issues of their lives and build communities of care.”–Theresa Jepsen, Mesa Community College

“’Nurses are just second to doctors, they are just assistants and can’t function without doctors”. Yeah, yeah. That is the common notion of the public, however, as much as we rely on doctor’s orders for some interventions we need to perform such as medications and invasive procedures, we also have our INDEPENDENT roles, we also get to make our own NURSING DIAGNOSES. The negative perception is often due to some nurses acting like those: like robots waiting for a physician’s order to move. Instead of confirming the perception, let us prove to them that they are not right. Like doctors, we have served years of health education and passed the boards to practice in this profession. We are professionals too, let us act like one.”
– Liane Clores, RN

“Nurses help people. And in doing so, we receive the unmatched satisfaction of knowing that we have made a difference to patients and their families.” – Dawn Marino, RN, BSN, HNB-BC

“The longer I’m in the profession, the more experiences shape my life, the more amazing colleagues influence me, the more I see the micro and macro power of nursing.” – Joni Watson, MBA, MSN, RN, OCN

29 Famous Nursing Student Quotes to Inspire, Motivate, and Uplift

Being a nursing student is tough. These quotes are just a small piece of that puzzle . . . but we think they will help you on your journey to make a difference in this world.

“The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.” – William Osler

“I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.” – Clara Barton

“When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don’t remember me nor I them, but I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them and they to me and those threads make up the beautiful tapestry in my mind that is my career in nursing.” – Donna Wilk Cardillo

“Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription.” – Val Saintsbury

“Bound by paperwork, short on hands, sleep and energy… nurses are rarely short on caring.” – Sharon Hudacek

“They may forget your name but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

“How can anybody hate nurses? Nobody hates nurses. The only time you hate a nurse is when they’re giving you an enema.” – Warren Beatty

“It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.” – Stephen Ambrose

“A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope.” – Carrie Latet

“Some people think that doctors and nurses can put scrambled eggs back in the shell.” – Cass Canfield

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou

“The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest….” – William Osler

Nurses don’t wait until October to celebrate Make a Difference Day — they make a difference every day! – Author Unknown

Nurses are a unique kind. They have this insatiable need to care for others, which is both their biggest strength and fatal flaw. – Dr. Jean Watson

You’re going to be there when a lot of people are born, and when a lot of people die. In most every culture, such moments are regarded as sacred and private, made special by a divine presence. No one on Earth would be welcomed, but you’re personally invited. What an honor that is. – Thom Dick

As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

Nursing is not for everyone. It takes a very strong, intelligent, and compassionate person to take on the ills of the world with passion and purpose and work to maintain the health and well-being of the planet. No wonder we’re exhausted at the end of the day! – Donna Wilk Cardillo

It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing. – Mother Teresa

Our job is to love people. When it hurts. When it’s awkward. When it’s uncool and embarrassing. Our job is to stand together, to carry the burdens of one another and to meet each other in our questions. – Jamie Tworkowksi

Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces. – Dana Basem

Every Nurse is Angel with a Key for Healthy Community! All in Caring for Patients is part of Nursing Soul! – Aleksandar Radenov

If love can’t cure it, nurses can. – Unknown

Nurses serve their patients in the most important capacities. We know that they serve as our first lines of communication when something goes wrong or when we are concerned about health. – Lois Capps

You treat a disease: You win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you win—no matter the outcome. – Patch Adams

Nurses have come a long way in a few short decades. In the past, our attention focused on physical, mental and emotional healing. Now we talk of healing your life, healing the environment, and healing the planet. – Lynn Keegan

To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through… that is what it is to be a nurse. – Rawsi Williams

Nurse — Just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate everything and soft enough to understand everyone.

The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak. – Virginia Henderson

Being a nurse isn’t about grades, it’s about being who we are. No book can teach you how to cry with a patient. No class can teach you how to tell their family that their parents have diet or are dying. No professor can teach you how to find dignity in giving someone a bed bath. A nurse is not about the pills or charting. It’s about being able to love people when they are at their weakest moments. – Anonymous

1 thought on “52 Famous Nurse Quotes: How to Make A Difference”

As a Registered Nurse, myself, I was so proud to read these quotes and think of the thousands of the sisters of nurses who have gone on before me. I’m so thankful for their legacy of caring for others in times of deep pain, sorrow, and even death. Thank you for such a beautiful collection. I am honored. ~ Johanna Galyen, RN BSN

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